As part of Copenhagen’s commitment to be the cleanest city in Europe by 2015, and – since big goals require huge measures – a giant (it’s constructed in 8:1 scale!) Vipp pedal bin has been installed as a reminder to Danes to think about where their garbage goes.(As seen in Design Milk)This mega pedal bin weighs in at 1763.7 lbs. with a volume of 3,800 liters. That’s enough to hold 25,000 broken bottles or 478.8 dirty diapers. Americans, on average, go through 7.6 billion lbs. of diapers per year, which translates to 3.45 billion liters; so it would take 907,869 bins of similar volume to hold all the diapers we go through per year.

These Danes are definitely excited about keeping garbage like that off the streets…

We were asked to guest blog for Bubble and Speak & decided to chat about the Punk exhibit at the MET, From Chaos to Couture, that we attended back in May and the synergies the message had on the kids’ market. Of course we were totally stoked, as Bubble and Speak is the awesome blog of one of the most inspirational trade shows that takes place in London and debuts lots of indie brands that we love & follow. Read it here:

To boot we worked up a little smattering of super cool Punk style for kids at Babesta! No, ‘Lil Joey Ramone, we don’t want to be sedated (usually) & we wouldn’t miss any of your adorable declarations of independence, rages against the machine and anti establishment antics!

From top to bottom, left to right:

Splatter shirt by A for Apple; Declare Independence tank by MIMA, Why? tee by NuNuNu, striped leggings by Sourpuss Clothing, shorts by A for Apple, Spraycan tee by Munster Kids, studded belt and Sex Pistols bib by Sourpuss Clothing, Skull soft soled shoes by Chauchas. **Things come in and out of the shop like wildfire, so if you see something you can’t live without, give us a ring & we’ll try to hook you up with it or introduce you to the latest & greatest. Babesta Threads: 212 608 4522.

We decided to jump on the DIY wagon (partially inspired by last week’s Etsy party) and we grabbed some old tees that had been damaged and decided to fashion ourselves a new pair of rockin’ summer flip flops. This is an easy one that any kid who can handle a pair of scissors can do. . .

1. Gather some of your old, too small, favorite rock tees

2. Cut it up into strips & tie the strips around the flip flops, making it dense & fluffy.

We are totally stoked that author-extraordinaire Kristen Kittscher will be in the house early July to host a creative writing workshop – slash – spy how-to! We LOOVED our early copy of Wig in the Window, her debut book published by Harper Collins and we know that any tween girls and boys would be stoked to slap on their super-stealth moustaches and learn how to build a great character for a detective story! Email xtremeplaydate@babesta.com to reserve your spot in this limited event on July 8 at 4:00-6:00pm. Babesta Cribz, 56 Warren Street, NYC. 646 290 5508.

A graduate from Princeton University, a student at New School in the M.F.A. program, and a waitress, putting forth 20 to 25 hours a week at our local Edward’s on West Broadway, Julie Sarkissian is definitely an inspiration. She had started working at Edward’s restaurant during her summer years at Princeton to save up money. Ever since she graduated and got accepted at NewSchool, she moved to New York and started dedicating 20- 25 hours a week at Edward’s (always a favorite lunch & dinner spot) to eventually pay off all her school loans. She always had a passion for writing, and while waitressing, she would imagine new situations in her main character’s voice- Lucy. Sarkissian states that the voice of her main character “came to [her] out of the blue.” Cheers to Sarkissian for her novel “Dear Lucy” which was published in April. Here is an excerpt of “Dear Lucy” provided by tribecatrib.com :

“I take one hand to open the door and keep one around my apron. An egg jumps out. “Lucy, use a basket. When you don’t use a basket, then the eggs break.” Mister is standing next to the skillet. When the skillet is hot with oil he puts his beard inside his shirt. “Then we don’t have food for breakfast. And everyone is hungry.” “I am gentle with the eggs, Mister,” I say. “Missus said, ‘Have you ever known a girl who was as gentle with the eggs?’” Missus doesn’t say anything. Today Missus forgot to tell her face to wake up. She is stirring a bowl and watching the grits turn around and around by the spoon. Mister he makes the eggs and Missus she makes the grits and that is what breakfast is. Missus, Missus, say how good I always am with the eggs. That is my wish but she doesn’t look up. A lot of the times wishing doesn’t make things happen any better than they would without your wishing. But it is something hard to learn, not to use your time to wish things. “Missus, Missus.” I have to say it louder because her ears are still asleep. So I say it louder and louder. “Missus, did you ever know a girl who was as good with the eggs?”

We are definitely putting this on our Babesta summer reading (for us, not kiddies) bookshelf!

We are sort of obsessed with the concept of 3D printing around her at Babesta. It’s amazing how it changes manufacturing and opens the possibilities to custom goods and custom medicine. This is a heartwarming story we read about where children were given the gift of grasp thanks to these technological innovations.

After South African Richard Van As lost two fingers in an accident, he came across a Youtube video featuring a big puppet hand that acts like a human hand uploaded by Ivan Owen. He reached out and the two decided to collaborate to create a human sized hand. After a few tests, Van As was fitted with their first creation; and quickly managed to use the hand, picking up different sized items. A mother contacted them after hearing of it, to see if her child, born without fingers on his right hand because of a rare congenital condition called amniotic band syndrome (ABS), could benefit from their discovery. The duo then created a new hand for the 5 year old, which created a beautiful moment. “He bent his wrist and made the fingers curl. You could see the light bulbs go off and he looked up and said, ‘It copies me.’ It was really an incredible moment.”

At first, Van As and Owen had no financial support to purchase a 3D printer, so they had to mend the separate parts manually, which took weeks. After finalizing their robotic hand, they contacted Makerbotto check if they produced their parts that would be printable using a 3D printer. Thankfully, Makerbot did, and they also went as far as to provide Van As and Owen a free printer, which really helped the duo start their project of Robohand. During the time of perfecting their hand using the 3D printer, the boy has raised money to help fit more than 100 children with Robohands, free of charge. They uploaded their perfected Robohand on Thingiverse, a website in which people share their digital designs for others to download. This Robohand can be easily created with the low cost of $5. It is truly fascinating to see that 3D printing has taken the next step to help those in need. It is very touching to see that there are so many people who do good for this world. Rock on, Richard and Ivan!!

Manhattan Youth has tipped us off to the Showboat Circus taking place this Sunday. It’s a spiced up, next level circus show aboard the historic Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge at Pier 25 (N. Moore St. and the Hudson River). Performers include: “Chris McDaniel, world champion rope and lariat artist; Jen Slaw, juggling genius; Ilene Weiss, a twinkling and tenter gal-with-guitar;” and more! -LK

What animal do you dream about? We just got a new shipment of Jonathan Adler animal menagerie nightlights in. They provide just the right amount of light in a room to keep any of the scaries away. Sweet and peaceful done out of ceramic. Find them at Babesta here.